Machine and equipment assets, generally, are engineered to perform particular tasks as part of a business process. For example, assets can include, among other things and without limitation, industrial manufacturing equipment on a production line, drilling equipment for use in mining operations, wind turbines that generate electricity on a wind farm, transportation vehicles, and the like. As another example, assets may include healthcare machines and equipment that aid in diagnosing patients such as imaging devices (e.g., X-ray or MRI systems), monitoring devices, and the like. The design and implementation of these assets often takes into account both the physics of the task at hand, as well as the environment in which such assets are configured to operate.
Low-level software and hardware-based controllers have long been used to drive machine and equipment assets. However, the rise of inexpensive cloud computing, increasing sensor capabilities, and decreasing sensor costs, as well as the proliferation of mobile technologies have created opportunities for creating novel industrial and healthcare based assets with improved sensing technology and which are capable of transmitting data that can then be distributed throughout a network. As a consequence, there are new opportunities to enhance the business value of some assets through the use of novel industrial-focused hardware and software.
Machine and equipment assets are often controlled by industrial software which may be included within an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Industrial software is often implemented within machines, on-premises, in a cloud environment, and the like, and can be used to manage devices, analyze data, predict future characteristics of or about assets, schedule maintenance, and the like. Industrial software is typically used by technicians in the field, administrative staff on a back-end, customers, and the like, who are not very familiar with designing software applications or generating executable code. However, these users are very familiar with the data provided from assets and functions that they need in order to perform their duties. Accordingly, what is needed is a tool that can facilitate industrial software development and deployment without the requirement of a programmer or other expert in generating code.